Newsletter #1117

A great first half display saw us pick up all three points against Portsmouth at the City of Manchester Stadium on Saturday. We’re now up to 9th, only three points behind Spurs who are currently in 7th place.

Tonight’s issue includes opinions on the new away shirt, the season run in, SP, yet more on the club badge and the usual requests.

Heidi is on holiday for the next two weeks, but keep your articles coming to the usual address.

MATCH STATS: MCFC vs. PORTSMOUTH, BIRMINGHAM AND BLACKBURN

Saturday 30th April 2005
FA Premiership
Manchester City 2 Portsmouth 0
City of Manchester Stadium
Kick-off 15:00
Attendance: 46,454

Team Changes: Exactly the same line-up as at Blackburn.

Line-up: James, Onuoha, Dunne, Distin, Jordan (Thatcher, 46), S. Wright-Phillips, Barton, Reyna, Musampa (Mills, 87), Sibierski, Fowler (Croft, 68).
Unused subs: Weaver, B. Wright-Phillips.

Goal times: (4) 1-0 Distin; (17) 2-0 Fowler.

Bookings: None. Sent off: None.

Referee: A. Marriner: 2nd game in charge of City, the first being the 3-1 home Premiership win against Crystal Palace on January 15th. His record W2, D0, L0.

Comment: A brilliant start by City, and probably one of their best halves of the season. It is amazing how differently the same set of players can play under two different managers. Stuart Pearce must now get the job full-time, and please City, we still want the opportunity to show our appreciation of Kevin Keegan, possibly at the Middlesbrough match?

MCFCStats: City have now scored 6666 League goals in total. Sylvain Distin’s 3rd goal for City came in his 125th appearance for the club. Distin has yet to make a substitute appearance for the Blues. Indeed, his only “unused substitute” appearance was in the UEFA away tie against TNS in August 2003. Today was Antoine Sibierski’s 50th League start, and his 76th appearance in total. What will you remember him for when he’s gone?

Saturday 23rd April 2005
FA Premiership
Blackburn Rovers 0 Manchester City 0
Ewood Park
Kick-off 15:00
Attendance: 24,646

Team Changes: Thatcher replaces McManaman on the subs’bench.

Line-up: James, Onuoha, Dunne, Distin, Jordan, S. Wright-Phillips, Barton, Reyna, Musampa (Croft, 77), Sibierski, Fowler (B. Wright-Phillips, 86).
Unused subs: Weaver, Mills, Thatcher.

Goal times: None.

Bookings: None. Sent off: None.

Referee: Chris Foy: 4th game in charge of City, the first being the FA Cup win against Swindon in January 2002. His record W2, D2, L0.

Comment: A morbid end of season game that is best forgotten. Referee Foy was poor, missing two penalty claims from City, yet giving other trivial free kicks. Apparently City may sign Musampa’s brother on a month’s loan over the Christmas period, which is when he is most useful. His name is Chris… get it? Chris Musampa (repeat until penny drops). Also heard today was a new chant “Number 1 is Robbie’s house, Number 2 is Robbie’s house…”

MCFCStats: Today’s 0-0 draw was the first League draw between the two teams at Ewood Park since September 1938, a 3-3 draw, nineteen games ago.

Wednesday 20th April 2005
FA Premiership
Manchester City 3 Birmingham City 0
City of Manchester Stadium
Kick-off 17:45
Attendance: 42,453

Team Changes: Shaun Wright-Phillips returns to the starting line-up in place of the injured Bosvelt.

Line-up: James, Onuoha, Dunne, Distin, Jordan, S. Wright-Phillips (Croft, 90), Barton, Reyna, Musampa, Sibierski, Fowler (B. Wright-Phillips, 81).
Unused subs: Weaver, Mills, McManaman.

Goal times: (55) 1-0 Taylor (o.g.) [Fowler]; (80) 2-0 Dunne; 86 Sibierski (pen).

Bookings: None. Sent off: None.

Referee: Martin Atkinson – Only his 2nd game in charge of a City match, the other being the 2-1 win at Crystal Palace earlier in the season. His record: W2, D0, L0.

Comment: A sparse crowd, including a dire away following, saw City almost take the lead in the first minute, but Shaun Wright-Phillips blazed over from six yards out. Though City were always in control, the scoreline suggests it was easy, which is far from the truth. It was only in the last ten minutes that City sealed it with Richard Dunne’s first ever goal at the new stadium, allowing us to mimic the “easy easy” sketch from Soccer AM. Brum showed little “bouncebackability” and Sibierski converted a penalty for a doubtful handball in the 86th minute. The win makes Psycho’s run look more impressive, being unbeaten in four, but with a bit more luck in the three London games, we could now be in a UEFA Cup place.

MCFCStats: Richard Dunne scored only his second goal for the club (bothscored in 3-0 home League wins against Birmingham City), in his 150th Leaguestart, and 177th appearance.

OPINION: THE BEST TEAM IN THE LAND AND ALL THE WORLD

Below is my best 11 (alternates in brackets):

James
Onouha (Mills)
Dunne
Distin
Thatcher (Jordan)
Joey Barton
SWP (Croft/Flood)
Kiki (Kiki Dee)
Reyna
Sibierski (BWP)
Fowler

James – Great season all in all.
Onouha – Good overlapping and plays with confidence going forward. Seems reasonably competent defensively too. Tall,so should be good in the air. Will be interesting to see how he deals with his first poor run (à la Jordan).
Mills – Less likely to record a successful pass than Einstein on Mastermind. Also, the more the season goes on, the more he looks like Moonchester.
Dunne – I have been singing his song on my own home and away all season but no-one ever joins in so I will sing it here: “Richard Dunne is a football Genius” (to the tune of “you’re going home on an organised football coach”). The t-shirt will be available soon.
Distin – Still King of Kung fu clearances but the form of Dunne and the quality of the partnership have been instrumental in bringing his game back to where it was when he was given the armband.
Thatcher – Better than Stephen Jordan.
Jordan – Over recent weeks, Joe Jordan might have been better at left back. Let’s hope SP picks him up and makes sure he fulfils his potential; given where the gaffer used to play, this should be saveable.
Joey Barton – Gone the “lunacy of the long distance mugger”, ensuring we now normally finish games with the same number of players we started with, but his distribution is poor and he seems to have swapped steel for style, with affected gestures when passing. I think he needs to be relieved of ball winning activities and be pushed forward at the top of the diamond and become our Gerrard/Lampard athlete like when he first made the first team. He can pass and move very, very well, he just seems to have forgotten how on a regular basis.
Bosvelt – Unsung hero. Given that everybody’s favourite Dutch Porn Star has gone home because we wouldn’t give him more than a 6 month contract (short-sighted I think), we need an ugly ball winning player like Ukulele (sic) at Chelsea.
Kiki – Like one of Baldrick’s poems: It began badly, tailed off in the middle and the less said about the end the better. A bit harsh but where is the strong left sided ball player of his early games, that could hold it up, do a trick then plough towards the goal combing would-be defenders out of his dreadlocks? Is it confidence or our seeming lack of interest in giving him a contract? He needs to be educated in defence too, as he has left Jordan exposed on many occasions since his introduction, making Jordan look worse than he actually is. Given that most teams don’t have a left winger but a talented right winger, it must be meat and drink to them to know that even if our left sided midfield player is actually within 20 yards of where he should have tracked back to be, once they have pushed it past him, he’s not going to chase them, and they should have an easy chance of a 1-2 round the poor shell-shocked lad at left back. Remind him he’s playing for a job! Teach him how to defend! Teach him to hit the target. Come on Kiki, don’t go breakin’ my heart! N.B. I fear if he does fall into the slough of despond and decides to take his own life, then let’s hope he doesn’t try and shoot himself, he’d miss.
SWP – He’s alright, but blue boots? Get rid of him sharpish. Only kidding. The only player in the entire league that marries unbounded energy to outrageous skill with the passion and commitment of those of us that just turn up and watch. I was appalled when he didn’t get the PFA award, but I guess the puffed up johnnies who’s lifestyles we prop up, are going to vote for Shayne Gooney rather than someone who plays with the unrestrained joy of a child in the street, wearing a smile on his face rather than the aspirant sneer of avarice that punctuates the porcine pig’s head of the pugnacious bin-dipper.
Reyna – USA! USA! Joins the attack well but has no real pace. Works very hard, but if I were the opposition, I wouldn’t fear playing against him.
Sibierski – In the team for two reasons; 1- because he can head it and no-one else can, 2- so we can always kick off by sending it in the air to him down the left for a knock on, which results in giving possession to the opposition. A skilful enough player but he’s neither fish nor flesh. He’s not the “best supporting actor”, grabbing the goals our main striker doesn’t, he’s not the creative player playing in the hole looking to pass it on or shoot himself, he’s not a muscly old fashioned centre forward causing problems. Not sure what they see in him over BWP. If we keep it on the deck then BWP would have chance to use his pace and finishing ability.
Fowler – Revolutionary. Holds it up, puts people in, some outrageous dummies this year to create space (changed laws of physics on halfway line vs. Palace at home), clinical finishing (Norwich away, ahem… they all count). Needs players around him on the same or similar wavelength, as many times like Oasis he “sees things they never see”. Let’s hope Mr Fowler also lives forever.

So we’re not actually that far off being a decent team, but a threadbare squad. Academy players all of a sudden bursting through and clinging on to 1st team places.
Sell/swap for tinned goods: Macken, McManaman, Sinclair, Mills.
Buy/Keep – SWP, BWP, a ball winner, a 20 goal striker, improve pace across the midfield/up front.

Season lows and highs:

H Fulham (Prem) 1-1 Draw – Like a Harvester – Poor starter.
A Crystal Palace (Prem) 1-2 Won – First chants of USA! USA! Much to the joy and surprise of Cloudy-Or Rainier.
A Southampton (Prem) 0-0 Draw – Cow’s arse meet banjo…
A Newcastle United (Prem) 4-3 Lost – Charlie Carolli meets Krusty the Klown for KK custard pie showdown.
A Manchester United (Prem) 0-0 Draw – Rourke’s drift.
H Aston Villa (Prem) 2-0 Won – 2 goals kept the 3 Villa fans sat in the Colin Bell stand very quiet.
A Arsenal (Prem) 1-1 Draw – Lauren to Vierra to SWP… goal! Sigh.
A Oldham Athletic (FA Cup) 1-0 Lost – Mr Croft’s Nadir.
A West Bromwich Albion (Prem) 2-0 Lost – Richard Dunne’s free kick.
A West Bromwich Albion (Prem) 2-0 Lost – G Poll Tring disallowing Richard Dunne’s free kick.
A Norwich City (Prem) 2-3 Won – Delia’s half time entertainment and meeting Pearce in the snow on the M11 services.
A Tottenham Hotspur (Prem) 2-1 Lost – Etuba abhoration spur us on to pip them for 7th place (cheating cockney b*/@#+%s).
A Charlton Athletic (Prem) 2-2 Draw – “We all live in a Robbie Fowler House…/ Robbie is our landlord…/ Touching the matchball”
A Charlton Athletic (Prem) 2-2 Draw – Robbie not just going for a corner in the last minute instead of crossing to Kiki…
A Fulham (Prem) 1-1 Draw – Al Fayed’s shoplifters get away with smash and grab.
A Blackburn Rovers (Prem) 0-0 Draw – 500 mile drive with a broken arm, the highlight of which was seeing a man dressed as a clown.
H Portsmouth (Prem) 2-0 Won – Could have been 10, should have been 8.

So with Villa having capitulated to Spuds yesterday, we must win away at Villa Park to set up a last day showdown with the Chemical Brothers of Teeside.

Best season for ages for many reasons but mostly just because I’m City till I die.

OPINION: REPLICA KIT

I hinted although briefly in my article on the badge (MCIVTA 1116) the lack of design cohesion in the area of the club’s kits in particular over the last 6 years. My favourite from recent times was the Le Coq Sportif Laser Blue with white sleeves and the club crest in the middle of the chest (however, I’m not sure if everyone would agree) and of course the Red/Black stripe kit, I have a replica of the Cup Winning shirt from 69.

Even though this has been messed about with over the years, the best versions were always the 69 to early 70’s and again in 2000 season.

Vote for the worst would be the dreadful florescent striped kit we had at Wembley in 98 and a few other dreadful examples from the 80’s.

However, what I would like to know is if there are others out there in Cityland who feel the same way, given now that the cost of the kits has become so expensive. Just to give you an example, over here on Oz the 1st team shirt retails at $150 tops, which is about £64! (and I suspect that they are made in Malaysia?) but also they are retained for only 2 years at best!

Don’t you think that if a groundswell of opinion from the faithful put enough pressure on the club to take into account, the fans’ thoughts on kit design and kit prices, we could get something better?

Could this topic be included on the next agenda/meeting with the club or could some thing be looked at now seeing as we are approaching the end of the season?

Like I said these are just thoughts, see what you think…

OPINION: NEW AWAY SHIRT (I)

Just seen the new away shirt… either I need a new PC monitor, or someone at Reebok let their crayon-toting 3-year-old loose on the original draughts. What were they thinking?

OPINION: NEW AWAY SHIRT (II)

So what do people think of the new away shirt?

To be honest I’m still undecided, but I’m a little fed up of the way we’re being treated by the club with regards to kits. I mean, can’t they ask us what we think? Right now I’m sitting at my chair, literally waiting to be asked.

I’m the ‘trendy’ youth of today, you think I don’t know what sells? Yep, still waiting.

Wardle goes on about how the away kits are poor sellers, yet to be quite frank the designs either aren’t up to it or are the usual generic offerings identical to that given to Bolton and West Ham. If City want to find out what colours or designs we would like then surely the best, and simplest way would be to gauge opinion, perhaps on City fansites or through this mailing list. I’m sure if we had an away kit similar to the limited edition red and black or 1956 Cup final Le Coq Sportif efforts, then they’d sell quite well.

Wasn’t it something of an error not to produce more of the red and black in the wake of our promotion in 2000 after the Blackburn game that we wore them in? They would have sold loads! I just think it would be a good idea to either gauge opinion or release a number of designs for the fans to choose from, rather than complain about shirts being poor sellers.

Well Johnny Wardle, my email is at the bottom of the piece, I await response. I’ve got some really good designs as well, surely you could employ me in some faculty!?

OPINION: THE CLUB BADGE (I)

I might be wrong about this, but I thought one of the reasons for changing the club badge was that the old one wasn’t copywritten. Much as I despise marketing departments, merchandise provides a vital income, so a new badge was necessary to protect this income. It also had to be significantly different from the old one to protect the ‘brand’. Whether the ‘new’ badge looks better than the old one is a different matter (and not one I’m going to comment on).

OPINION: THE CLUB BADGE (II)

I also agree with Nick Durham about the badge – and probably coincidentally, I’m also just 19, so the glory years we enjoyed with the old badge are not even a memory for me. I just want to make one objection to the badge, since it’s currently a subject of discussion.

The Latin “motto” is pretty rubbish, in my humble opinion. According to my sister, who for some reason best known to her did Latin A level, “Superbia in Proelia” is best translated not as “Pride in Battle” but as “Arrogance in Battle”. Apparently, there was even a Roman bloke (general, emperor, I can’t remember) called Severus who was nicknamed “Severus Superbus” because he was such an arrogant guy.

If she’s right, and I’m sure she is, it makes you wonder how badly the club was run at the time that motto was chosen – did nobody check its actual meaning? Also, the idea of just inventing a motto, and then putting it in Latin to make it look like it’s traditional is ridiculous. Lots of clubs have brilliant mottos in Latin – Arte et Labore (Blackburn) for instance, but there’s no reason why we can’t have one in English. Rangers’ motto is just “Ready”, which I think is brilliant. The other alternative would have been to take an old motto from the City of Manchester, or to research the club’s (or Ardwick FC’s) history for a possible Latin motto. Or we could just be mottoless – lots of clubs are.

OPINION: THE CLUB BADGE (III)

As the one who kind of kick started the recent debate about the badge, etc, thought I’d better respond to some of the comments made!

First, Pete in Oz – I suppose you make a good point about not going back but then you undo your argument by saying we should go back to the red and black away strip! Well both this and the round badge were synonymous with the club’s most successful era of the 60’s and 70’s.

Yes things move on but a badge or emblem is what you identify with the club. As I was growing up that always symbolised City to me – apart from the coat of arms of Manchester, which was used for cup final occasions – a rarity indeed! The stars do give the badge a European feel, but for most clubs in Europe the use of stars is that of a sign of excellence. i.e. Juventus’ two stars represent their two European cup wins. What kind of meaning do City’s 3 stars have?

As for United – can you imagine them substantially changing their badge however old it is? I can’t because it is what most of their fans/customers/ tourists identify themselves with.

Maybe I am being a little sentimental but as I said it’s what I identify City with – I’m not going to cry about it but for me the Eagle thing carries no meaning.

OPINION: PEARCE HAS EUROPE IN HIS SIGHTS

After the 2-0 win against Portsmouth, Stuart Pearce claimed it was the best showing in the first 45 minutes from his players since taking over as caretaker manager.

It’s still one game at a time, must not think of the 2nd game until after the Villa game has been won.

Stuart Pearce’s “Blue and White” army has got to turn up in force at Villa to support the team to victory.

Beat Villa and it’s the thriller versus Boro, it will be like a Cup Final, win and what a way to end the season.

The team of players Kevin Keegan left behind, Stuart Pearce brought to life with a passion unequalled in the history of MCFC.

Stuart Pearce has brought new hope to all Manchester City supporters worldwide, I am very proud of him.

This week SWP has stated he is very happy at City, and will only move if MCFC says they have a deal that they cannot refuse.

Ian Wright (SWP’s dad) also this week said that if a player now, he would prefer to play for Chelsea and not Arsenal; I just hope that this does not mean Chelski will come looking for Shaun Wright-Phillips, for if City qualify for Europe, this will be suicide for John Wardle and the board to let SWP go.

If John Wardle wants to be a popular Chairman it would be very nice to get on the speakers in the stadium just as soon as the final whistle goes in the last game of the season, before all the supporters exit, to announce that Stuart Pearce will be the new manager/coach of City.

Don’t wait until the summer, for then it will just be sorting out SP’s contract.

And if John Wardle wants to stay popular he has to keep SWP at City, especially if City qualify for Europe; if City do not qualify it might be too tempting if the right offer comes in, after all it’s no longer just a sport but a business.

Two games to go, all City supporters get your lozenges now in case you all get hoarse from shouting and singing.

Come on you Blues!

P.S.: My condolences to Stuart Pearce on his former team Nottingham Forest getting relegated. Forest played a pre-season in Richmond Virginia, I watched that game, the writing was on the wall back then. The only player to impress me on that day was Andy Reid. Hope they can make some changes and bounce back, they are too good a club to be where they are going, being a City fan, been there, done that.

OPINION: STUART PEARCE

With all this pro Stuart Pearce debate, I would like to add my four penneth. Of course he should have the job.

I can understand the board’s decision to “try him out”. Personally I’d have given him the job immediately, but making him a bit hungrier to prove himself may have been the objective; if it was, it’s worked.

Now, as has been pointed out, he doesn’t have a contract. I wrote a few articles ago about how upsetting it would be to see SP doing very well for another club. The man is a future England manager. Let’s not do another City foot and shooting fiasco. Give him the job and next season we’ll be moaning about the odd defeat in 10. Wouldn’t that be onerous!

OPINION: EUROPE AND BEYOND

Good game by the boys on Saturday, with great goals from both Distin and Fowler. It seems a shame that Bradley Wright was not given the opportunity to replace Fowler, as it looks like a few more games could give the lad a big confidence boost, and with Fowler going off, it left SWP in the middle.

It looks better with Lee Croft on one wing and SWP on the other, both feeding in the balls to either BWP or Robbie, but the question on my lips is: if we do make Europe, which is now looking a distinct possibility, we are going to need someone with pace up front. Bearing in mind that we have no money to buy with, get the young lad blooded out for the last two games.

P.S.: Heard on the grapevine we are buying Kiki Musampa’s brother; he’s called Chris?

REQUEST: CITY ON TV

There is no substitute for being there but, sometimes it’s not possible so, would it be possible to build up a database of pubs in the UK where foreign satellite football is shown?

I know of one in the Tameside area (Ashton Under Lyne) where it is shown. I have seen a few City matches there but would welcome information about any others a bit nearer to where I live (Hyde).

REQUEST: VILLA TICKETS

Looking for 2 tickets for the Villa game on Saturday. Email me at the address below.

Thanks in advance.

CENTENARY SUPPORTERS’ ASSOCIATION 5-A-SIDE

The Centenary Supporters’ Association Annual 5-a-Side competition will take place at the Platt Lane Complex on Saturday 18th June 2005 with a 10-00am KO. A presentation of trophies and buffet will take place in the Oasis Suite at 2-00pm following the football. We are inviting a number of City celebrities to join us for the buffet. The 5-a-Side is open to non-CSA teams. We welcome and invite applications from any group of McV readers. The same invitation is extended to all OSC branches. Teams should have 7 players.

Entrance to the competition is £10.00 per team and cheques should be made payable to MCCSA and forwarded to myself:

Alex Channon
‘Penalty Spot’
81 Milner Street
Swinton
Manchester M27 4AS
Tel 0161-281-7517

All enquiries should be directed to me.

I remember Spurs turning up in their home strip for an away game in about 1987 and the sun was so bright that our home shirts, perhaps the lightest blue kit we’ve ever had, couldn’t be differentiated from them and we played in our away kit at a home game. Slightly surreal, but not as funny as a few years later when Gazza was being given a load of flak while warming up.

Someone threw a Mars bar on the pitch minutes before kick-off. Where most players rise above the hint that they’re a fat biffer, or decline the offer in the paranoid belief that it might not be a Mars Bar inside, he picked it up and ate it in one.

JOHN’S ANSWER TO HIS TEASER FROM THURSDAY’S EDITION

What team turned up at Maine Road in the early seventies without a change strip and were ordered by the referee to change? They turned out in City’s away strip of Black & Red stripes complete with the City badge on the shirts!

Well the answer is, Queen’s Park Rangers who came to Maine Road for the quarter final of the League Cup in 1970 (well technically, it would have been in late 1969 but the final was in 1970) when City went on to beat West Brom at Wembley with Mick Doyle and Glyn Pardoe scoring, cancelling out Jeff Astle’s opener after 5 minutes when Joe Corrigan allowed Astle to outjump him for the ball. City beat QPR 3-0, which was also the half-time score and I got stuck in the queues outside, missing the first two goals and just making it to the top of the old scoreboard end to see Alan Oakes slam a 25-yard shot into the roof of the net to make it 3-0 after about 15 minutes. Memories, eh?

RESULTS

1 May 2005

Tottenham Hotspur     5 - 1  Aston Villa           36,078

30 April 2005

Birmingham City       2 - 1  Blackburn Rovers      28,621
Fulham                2 - 0  Everton               21,881
Liverpool             1 - 1  Middlesbrough         43,250
Manchester City       2 - 0  Portsmouth            46,454
Newcastle United      0 - 0  Crystal Palace        52,123
Southampton           4 - 3  Norwich City          31,944

27 April 2005

Newcastle United      0 - 0  Middlesbrough

League table to 01 May 2005 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts
 1 Chelsea         34 13  5  0 34  6 13  2  1 31  7 26  7  1  65  13  52  85
 2 Arsenal         34 11  5  1 44 18 11  3  3 30 15 22  8  4  74  33  41  74
 3 Manchester Utd  34 12  5  0 29  8  8  5  4 21 13 20 10  4  50  21  29  70
 4 Everton         35 11  2  5 22 15  6  5  6 19 21 17  7 11  41  36   5  58
 5 Liverpool       36 11  4  3 29 14  5  3 10 20 23 16  7 13  49  37  12  55
 6 Bolton Wndrs    35  8  5  4 22 14  7  4  7 23 25 15  9 11  45  39   6  54
 7 Tottenham H.    36  9  4  5 36 22  5  5  8 11 18 14  9 13  47  40   7  51
 8 Middlesbrough   36  8  6  4 28 19  5  6  7 23 26 13 12 11  51  45   6  51
 9 Manchester City 36  8  5  5 23 13  4  7  7 21 24 12 12 12  44  37   7  48
10 Aston Villa     36  8  6  4 25 15  4  5  9 18 33 12 11 13  43  48  -5  47
11 Charlton Ath.   35  8  3  6 27 23  4  6  8 13 28 12  9 14  40  51 -11  45
12 Birmingham City 36  7  6  5 22 14  3  6  9 16 30 10 12 14  38  44  -6  42
13 Blackburn R.    36  5  8  5 20 19  4  6  8 11 21  9 14 13  31  40  -9  41
14 Newcastle Utd   35  7  6  5 24 24  2  7  8 19 29  9 13 13  43  53 -10  40
15 Fulham          35  7  4  6 22 23  3  4 11 20 33 10  8 17  42  56 -14  38
16 Portsmouth      36  8  3  7 29 25  2  5 11 13 31 10  8 18  42  56 -14  38
17 Southampton     36  5  9  4 29 28  1  4 13 13 34  6 13 17  42  62 -20  31
18 Crystal Palace  36  6  4  8 19 17  1  6 11 18 41  7 10 19  37  58 -21  31
19 West Brom A.    35  4  8  5 15 22  1  7 10 18 36  5 15 15  33  58 -25  30
20 Norwich City    36  6  5  7 28 32  0  7 11 13 39  6 12 18  41  71 -30  30

MCIVTA FAQ [v0405.02]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Madeleine Hawkins)     : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org
News/rumour (Don Barrie)         : news@mcivta.city-fan.org
Subscriptions (Madeleine Hawkins): subscriptions@mcivta.city-fan.org
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[2] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

Deadlines for issues are nominally 6pm, Monday and Thursday evenings bu email. Unfortunately we cannot accept email attachments.

[3] MCIVTA Back Issues and Manchester City Supporters’ home page

http://www.uit.no/mancity/ is the unofficial Manchester City Supporters’ home page. Created in 1994, it is the longest running of the Manchester City related web sites. Back issues of MCIVTA are also hosted on the site.

[4] What is the club’s official web site?

The official club web site can be found at http://www.mcfc.co.uk/

[5] What supporters’ clubs are there?

Manchester City FC recognises three supporters’ clubs: The “Official Supporters Club” (http://www.mancity.net/osc/); the “Centenary Supporters’ Association” (http://www.reddishblues.com/CSAWebsite/CSA.htm) and “The International Supporters’ Club” (http://www.mcfc.co.uk/article.asp?article=111845&Title=International+Supporters+Club&lid=Membership).

[6] Where can I find out about the fans’ committee?

The Fans’ Committee operates as an interface between supporters and the club. The Fans’ Committee has been relaunched as “Points of Blue”. It has appeared on the club website as a minor entry under “Fans Zone”.

[7] What match day broadcasts are available on the web?

The GMR pre and post match phone-in is available on the web at http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/gmr/sport_intro.shtml.

Live match commentaries and archives of games, reports and interviews can be found at http://www.mcfctv.com/.

[8] Where can I find out if City are live on satellite TV?

http://www.satfootball.com/pl.html provides a listing of Premiership games being shown on UK domestic and foreign satellite channels. Useful sites for North American viewers are http://canadatvsoccer.tripod.com/Fixtures.htm, http://www.foxsportsworld.com/named/FSW/Index/Soccer, and http://www.soccertv.com/.

[9] Do we have a Usenet newsgroup?

Yes we do: uk.sport.football.clubs.man-city is our home on usenet. If you are not familiar with usenet, a basic explanation is available here: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,289893,sid9_gci213262,00.html

[10] Do any squad members have their own web pages?

There are a number available and direct links can be found at http://www.uit.no/mancity/players/

[11] Can I buy shares in the club?

Yes you can: Shares in Manchester City PLC are traded on OFEX. The latest prices can be on found the OFEX web site http://www.ofex.com/ (registration required) or in the business section of the Manchester Evening News.

[12] Where can I find match statistics?

Statistics for the current season are available from the club site, but for a more in-depth analysis try http://www.mcfcstats.com/.

[13] Where can I find a list of City-related websites?

Try Wookie’s Lair: http://www.wookieslair.com/modules.php?name=Web_Links

DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in MCIVTA are entirely those of the subscribersand there is no intention to represent these opinions as being thoseof Manchester City Football Club, nor of any of the companies anduniversities by whom the subscribers are employed. It is not inany way whatsoever connected to the club or any other relatedorganisation and is simply a group of supporters using this mediumas a means of disseminating news and exchanging opinions.

Madeline Hawkins, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: